This invention relates generally to means and methods for pulling wire between two sites and relates, more particularly, to a single-use lanyard assembly which is capable of being crimped about one end of a wire for wire-pulling purposes.
The class of lanyard assemblies with which this invention is to be compared includes those having a cord portion to which a pulling device can be connected and a wire-accepting connector which is joined to the cord portion. The connector has a body which is elongated in shape and has an opening formed in one end of the body for accepting one end of a wire to be pulled. Once an end of the wire is positioned within the connector body, the connector body is crimped, or swaged, about the wire end to secure the connector body to the wire end. The connector body, with the wire end crimped therein, can thereafter be pulled upon, by way of the cord portion, to pull the wire in an endwise, or longitudinal, direction.
Unless the inserted wire end is fully accepted by the connector body when the connector body is crimped thereabout, the surface area of the wire being crimped, or mashed between, the crimped connector body may not be maximized which could, in turn, reduce the wire-pulling capacity of the lanyard assembly. However, the construction of the connector bodies of conventional lanyard assemblies renders it difficult to readily determine whether a wire end is fully accepted by the connector body before the connector body is crimped about the wire end.
It would be desirable to provide a lanyard assembly which enables a user to readily determine whether or not an end of a wire to be pulled is fully or near fully-accepted by the body of the connector before the wire is crimped about the accepted wire end. It would also be desirable to provide a lanyard assembly whose features improve the wire-pulling capacity of the lanyard assembly, once the connector body is crimped about a wire end.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved lanyard assembly of the aforedescribed class.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a lanyard assembly which provides a user with means for readily determining whether or not an end of a wire to be pulled is fully or near-fully accepted by the body of the connector before the connector body is crimped about the wire end.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a lanyard assembly which enables a user to visually determine whether or not a wire end portion has been inserted endwise into the connector body by a target, or predetermined, distance.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a lanyard assembly whose features improve upon the wire-pulling capacity of the assembly, once the connector body has been crimped about a wire end.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a lanyard assembly which is uncomplicated in structure, yet effective in operation.